


Great Deception

by HostileMilk



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Add tags when story goes on, Deception, F/F, Frisk's Determination, Memories, Non-Binary Frisk, Toriel and Asgore are just friends, worried friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 14:10:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13591722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HostileMilk/pseuds/HostileMilk
Summary: Frisk will unfortunately not be having permanent peace with their friends on the Surface.





	Great Deception

It was the first night that they weren't able to fall asleep.

This hadn't sprung up as a problem anytime before. Once they were under the covers, usually sleepness would have no qualms about knocking them unconscious till the morning. Their days up on the Surface were being constantly filled with energy-draining activities with their friends. That, combined with them normally being able to doze off without any issue, knocked them out until Toriel would spread the curtains in their room to allow the morning light to fill the room and rip them from their dreams.

Yet here they were, with their arms spread out across the edge of the window, sitting in a chair in front of it. The blades of the grass in their front lawn, painted dark by the night, held their eyes' undivided attention for the time being.

Though, to say that they were all but focusing on the softly swaying grass, if at all, would be quite a stretch.

No, their mind wandered somewhere else entirely. What subject their mind was on exactly was the very thing that tied them in the waking world and prevented them from going loose into the dreaming one. It was irritable, actually, for they were exhausted and their body ached and longed for the bed next to them. No matter how much they covered their mouth when they yawned or when the coldness of the room urged them to seek protection under the blankets, the memory that kept replaying in their head wouldn't let them nod off.

It was an insignificant memory from their adventure in the Underground that was responsible. Back at a point in time where they were being hunted down like prey. Running through the winding tunneling of the Waterfall and trying to avoid a certain Royal Guard Captain throughout their sprint.

All that escaping and hiding, however, brought them to a bizarre place. The very setting of their memory.

The memory started off something like this...

*-*-*

_Breathing was something that came quick and obnoxiously loud enough to anyone close enough to hear it. They were breathing hard. And the caves above them certainly didn't ease their fiery nerves by echoing back the labored breaths coming from their mouth._

_But they wouldn't stop for anything. Not when the knowledge of the fact that there was someone hunting them. Hunting for their soul._

_As if something had already begun to attack their soul, they raised both of their hands to their chest and made a 'cup' formation with it. A feeble attempt at protection, yet a comforting gesture._

_Though they say that they weren't going to stop for anything, their body eventually burned out. Not even their determination to make it through could stop their body from being drained of its energy._

_Sweat was pouring down their face and made their hair frazzled with clumps of hair sticking together. They brought their hands to their knees and eyed a random spot that was against the wall of the tunnel. Never did a spot look so desirable to them then at that moment. They wanted to continue running or even just walking forward, but they couldn't resist the temptation._

_They walked over and leaned against the rocky wall to them, exhausted from their panic-induced run, and still held the spot where their soul resided with both of their hands. Cold air was being inhaled and exhaled. Freezing enough to see their breath, even. It was, at least, able to cool down the burning sensation that enveloped most of their body._

_Their ears strained for any potential attacker or anything, really, and when finding none, they finally allowed themselves a few moments of peace. They plopped down on the floor and rested their body against the wall. The ground wasn't very comfortable. The little stings of pain up their bottom indicated that there were little bits of rocks under them, but they might as well have been miniature spikes that were piercing them. Not a great feeling especially when everything was so sore._

_A more comfortable location to let them recharge sounded like a dream to them, but as far as they knew, there were no inns or resting stops in Waterfall. It just had to be endured with for the time being._

_When they were left to their own temporary peace, they noticed that there was still pain striking through their heart, even though their run had died off not too long ago. It was a throbbing sort of pain and it was really starting to make them shift their weight around with discomfort._

_Maybe the pain was coming from betrayal from someone? A particularly tall, scarf-wearing one?_

_Their eyes started to sting a bit. Whether the sudden tears were produced from their eyes catching a little whiff of dust or their emotions running thick, was anyone's guess. But they had an inkling to which one of the two that may have caused it._

_They knew they shouldn't feel this way. Especially to their newly made friend._

_One of their only friends..._

_But they couldn't expel the conversation they heard from their mind. Tucked away and hidden within the tall grass, they heard what essentially was Papyrus agreeing to assist the mysterious, armored person in stealing their soul._

_A whimper started to claw out of their throat and they cupped their hands around their heart even tighter. They didn't want to believe that he would willingly help the armored, pony-tailed guardsman to slaughter them just to steal away their soul. Not after all the things they had done together._

_But a part of their mind, a large portion of it, rose to defend their friend. They knew that from the tone and the clear hesitation in Papyrus's voice told them that he clearly didn't want to help the guardsman kill them. Even if he did agree to help out that Undyne person, in the end, they could just tell that there was hope that the both of them can still be friends._

_The evidence was there, yet their mind isn't satisfied or happy like it should've have been. Yes, their confidence and trust in Papyrus had (mostly) been restored, but that still didn't change the fact that they might be killed._

_After swallowing back a sob, they closed their eyes shut, blocking them out from the world. They forced all of the thoughts of dying at the hands of that frightening, armored person._

_They were tired of their mind being constantly on Undyne and Papyrus. Or dying._

_Reopening their eyes, they started to rub off the excess tears that were left in a slow manner, emotionally and physically exhausted to speed the process up. After thoroughly cleaning their eyes out, they retracted their hands onto their lap._

_Their eyes started to wander away from the one spot on the ground and they looked around them, seeking for something that could serve as a distraction from the annoyingly lingering pain in their heart._

_It looked like many of the tunnels they had run through but a few minutes ago. Same bland rocks, luminescent water, and a few echo flowers scattered about in the few patches of dirt that the area had._

_Even if it all looked boring and repetitive, the stillness of everything lulled their mind to peace._

_Their eyes were still moving about until it landed on something that caused them to pause completely. There, fixed upon the rocky wall, was a wooden door. A normal door._

_It was gray in color and boasted of a size not much bigger than their own size. It was the kind of door that screamed blandness to the extreme. Not an eyesore, had it not have been fixed upon in a location that was in a cave. Seriously, who would place a door, out of all places, here?_

_Their curiosity was hooked. There was no way that they could not eye this random, out of place object out deep in a cave and continue moving forward without taking a little peek inside._

_Still fatigued from their run, their sore muscles harness them down to the spot on the cave floor for a few seconds, but they eventually managed to haul themselves up in front of the strange, wooden door. Only a little voice in their mind warned them that this door was simply too strange and weird to explore through, but it was drowned out by all possibilities their mind were creating about what was behind this door._

_Maybe a new, super-cool looking armor was waiting behind the door, all just for them? Or maybe there was all the candy and dessert they could ever wish for?_

_Their heart was hammering through their just at the new opportunities. With their aching limbs ignored completely, they twisted the knob and opened the creaking door. They entered through the door and into a sort of room with springs of childish excitement in their steps._

_The walls of the room were completely black, which was the first thing they had noticed immediately. So much so that they couldn't help but think that the walls were like the black holes Sans had described to them back in Snowdin. Though, despite the color of the walls, the room itself was well lit, which they were thankful for as they weren't fond of the darkness at all._

_As they trudged through the hallway, still mesmerized by how textureless and dark the walls seemed to be, something tall was caught at the corners of their sight. Turning their heads toward whatever the thing was, they realized that the thing in question was a person that stood at the center of the room. Or at least, they thought that it was a person, for its complete lack of motion made it seem like a statue._

_The spring in their steps was gone and had been reduced to more meek and shy steps. They bit their bottom lip as they grew hesitant to approach the figure. What if the figure was the owner of this room? They knew that it was rude to enter a place without the owner's permission. With that, they were now regretting the fact that they didn't knock on the door first. They didn't want to be rude..._

_They expected the figure to notice them and yell at them to get out or beat them for trespassing, yet as they drew nearer, (why they drew even closer they didn't really know), no gruff order or any kind of acknowledgment came from the figure. As the figure's appearance grew distinguishable, the more hesitant they were to approach it._

_One thing that their mind had instantly picked up after seeing the figure relatively close up was the fact that he bore a resemblance to Papyrus and Sans. Well, not in terms of facial features but in the general sense that the figure looked like a skeleton. Draped in some sort of cloak, the skeleton stranger's two large eye sockets were staring at them. Accompanied by the cloak and the face was the two hands that had holes in them that nearly took up half of the hands._

_Their face scrunched up into a sort of wince and concern for the cloaked person. The holes in his hands didn't look natural at all, for it looked as if his hands had been subject to being drilled into, evidenced by the cracks stretching out from the outer edge of the holes. Was he hurt?_

_They made it out of the hallway and entered the same space the man was in. Their concerned and curious stare was interlocking with the man's unreadable pair of eye sockets. The cloaked man wore a blank expression, and despite their theory of him being a skeleton, he held no permanent smile like the two skeleton brothers that they were intimately acquainted with. Just a thin line where they supposed his mouth is at._

_Seconds filled with awkward air ticked by with no one making a move to say anything to each other and they decided to break the stillness themselves.  With a step forward, they cleared their throat._

_"Um, h-hi," their voice called out to the man. Immediately after, they mentally chastised themselves for how frail and small their voice sounded._

_If there was one thing they had learned before they had fallen in the Underground, it is that sounding weak is generally a bad thing. Even though this man didn't seem to be a threat, that could change. They needed to maintain an image of a strong person. Though, most of their time spent in the entire place tested that image to the limits, however._

_But seconds tick by with no response filling it in. The cloaked man had not budged an inch nor did even the eye lights in his eye sockets moved. It was like he was just a portrait painted on the wall. Maybe they were just staring at a very realistic painting on the wall, and this man was just that, an image._

_They shifted their weight on both of their feet in an awkward manner before they decided to speak up again. Though it was starting to get creepy to them how motionless he was, they wouldn't let him see the nervousness along their features._

_"Excuse me, sir, do you live here? I'm sorry for not knocking before entering, I was kinda excited about exploring a new place that I forgot my manners. I umm..." they trailed off as they realized that the man was evidently not going to respond._

_They puffed their cheeks from a little bit of irritation at the man's inability to respond. Maybe trying a change of subject might get them a response?_

_"Um, about those holes in your hands... Are you in pain? Because I have a few cinnamon bunnies I bought from Snowdin that can heal you. If you want, of course."_

_Again, no response from the statue of a man. The unresponsiveness of the man was starting to irritate as well as freak them out and they took out their feelings on the edge of their sweater, rubbing it out with their fingers. Was he blind and deaf?  Well if he was both of those things, surely he would have felt them approaching him?_

With a gulp of nervousness, they stood _indecisive on what to do as they shifted from foot to foot. They eyed the man with more caution than ever before. As more and more time went by, the more warning signals their brain was getting from this man and this room. But they couldn't just back out now. Their ever so enormous curiosity wouldn't allow them to just leave this room without getting at least a satisfactory reason for doing so._

_And so far, a creepy man, seemingly frozen in time, standing in the middle of an empty room wasn't enough of a reason to run away._

_An idea formed in their head in amidst of the potential conversation starters they could say to the man. If they could give him a tap on the arm or somewhere else, maybe that could get his attention. It was the only way forward that their mind could come up with on the spot._

_Without even thinking about how flawed or successful that plan may be, their legs started to move without their consent until they reached directly in front of him. There was only a step of space between them now. Their hand was already in motion, reaching for the cloaked arm of the figure that seemed to tower over them now. And touch they did, as they pinched the cloth of his upper arm and pulled it back softly._

_They jumped back and their bottom nearly met the floor when there was no man in the room._

_No man. Just the emptiness of the room that replaced the cloaked man. One touch of his cloak and there was no more of him before their very eyes._

_A chill went down their spine as they jerked their head and body in all directions, looking for the man. More feelings of something creeping up their back and frantic breathing as they couldn't even find a smidgen of his cloak. They couldn't bring themselves to speak out loud for the man to come out and stop hiding. Because that was the only explanation right? That he played a prank on them, like Sans does, and hid._

_They suddenly felt like they shouldn't be in this room anymore. They wanted out._

_They nearly tore the door down on their way out, and without a glance back, they rushed out of that area of Waterfall._

_The fear had officially made a home in them as they ran and it actually came close to the amount of fear when they first found out that Undyne would be actively hunting them down._

-*-*-

They let out an uncomfortable hum as they kicked their legs back and forth in their chair, no longer gazing out the window and just eyeing their hands on their lap. They weren't in a happy place when that memory took place. Holding the knowledge to themselves that their life, for once, was at high risk of ending. By someone who looked very scary and intimidating, no less. Though, while that fear completely vanished in present time, they were still sometimes intimidated by their boulder-lifting bestie. 

There was nothing that spurred them on, but they decided to look back towards their alarm clock on their nightstand. Their lips smushed tighter and they frowned a little when they realized how late it was. They swore that alarm clock read to them that it was 10:00 p.m. when they first got out of bed to grab a chair and sit in front of the window. Yet, now, time was apparently was a little over midnight. 

A little fear crept into their mind. What if Toriel caught them at such a late hour? They shivered at the thought of her scolding them. Not because of the fact that the scolding itself was so terrible, but the fact that their adoptive mother had a way of unintentionally making them feel so guilty then they originally were. They knew that she would never do that on purpose, but they couldn't help to feel guilty when they disappoint her. Better get in bed before she can get the chance to find out.

With that thought, a yawn escaped their mouth and they promptly covered it. 

They had no clue why such a weird memory kept them up so late into the night. It was creepy and seemed a lot weirder than most of their experiences in the Underground, but it shouldn't be bothering them so much.

They stood up from the chair and walked towards their bed. 

Though, with their mind on the subject of the memory, they couldn't help but wonder where that man had gone to. Was he up, enjoying his newfound freedom up on the surface? Or was he still in the Underground?

They were strangely compelled to find out, but they knew it was ridiculous. There would be no one there. Every monster moved to the Surface and it was confirmed after several patrols of the area made sure to move every monster out.

Another yawn came out and this time they failed to stifle it as they climbed into bed. They drifted off to sleep and dreams.

 

 

 


End file.
